Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

6. Sacred School

One day, I would leave this place and never look back. I picked at the gunky residue on my temple from the electrodes. My head ached from the solid hour the technicians made me spend pushing rocks through obstacle courses with my mind. The harsh lights in the all-white testing room made it hard to focus. At least I was done for the weekend.

I walked past the door to my dorm and continued for the glass door at the end of the hall, trailing my fingers along the pale blue wall. The color was supposed to make it feel like a home. Like children lived here. None of us had been children for a long time. As much as I hated the all-white room, I preferred its bright walls to this lie.

I'd been here since Dad died. Almost five years already. I'd sworn I'd make it out by now.

One day...

I sighed and walked out into the courtyard.

"Up here!"

Piercey. I bit down my smile and looked up to the tree branch where he sat twenty feet up.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked.

I looked at the trunk. No low branches to climb. "I'm tired. They had me doing puzzles today."

"Ch-ch-chicken."

I jolted forward, focused the warmth inside me on the muscles in my legs. I jumped higher than I expected and faltered when my foot hit the trunk. Crashed to the ground. "Ouch..."

"Weak," Piercey said. "You can do better than that, Max."

I tried again, but didn't make it halfway to where I had before. On my third try, I kicked off the tree and grazed the closest branch with my fingers.

"Damn it!" I ran for the tree, jumped, kicked off, and caught the branch with both hands this time. Grinning, I focused on my arms and heightened my natural strength as I pulled myself up.

Piercey caught my arm to help me the rest of the way. "I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it."

"Is this your sly way of telling me I need to train more before Monday?"

"Not sure it's sly, but yeah." He nudged me with his elbow. "We can't win our competition without you. You have to be ready. If our class wins, we get out of cleaning duty for a month."

"What about you? Why does it all have to be on my shoulders?"

Piercey rolled his eyes. "You know why. You just want to hear me say it."

I grinned and wiggled my legs dangling off the branch. "Come on."

A side-eyed glance and then he muttered the words. "You're better at combat than me."

"That's right I am." I patted his back. "But you're basically a healing prodigy, so don't feel too bad."

"Gods. Your ego..." He took an apple from his pocket. "Saved one for you. It's the sweet kind. Not the nasty ones that taste like nothing."

"Cool." Juice pooled in my mouth when I bit into it. "Mmm."

"If the instructors hear you picking up slang from your shows, they won't let you watch them."

"The instructors can kiss my ass."

He sighed. "You should stop watching so much tv and train more." His voice quieted. "I'm tired of seeing you get hurt."

"Please. The better we get, the more pain they throw at us. Besides, I love to train. I get sick of doing it alone."

"Well, you're in luck, because I'm ready to be your partner today." Piercey pulled his bag off his back and took out his tablet.